Could you be loved - Bob Marley and the Wailers - 1980 - Reggae 80s

Could you be loved - Bob Marley and the Wailers - 1980

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Bob Marley and the Wailers: Biografia | Biography

Bob
Marley’s third album for Island Records “Natty Dread”,
released in October 1975, was the first credited to Bob Marley
and The Wailers; the harmonies of Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer were
replaced with the soulfulness of the I-Threes, Rita Marley, Marcia
Griffiths and

Judy Mowatt. The Wailers band now included Family Man
and Carly Barrett, Junior Marvin on rhythm guitar, Al Anderson on
lead guitar, Tyrone Downie and Earl “Wya” Lindo on keyboards and
Alvin “Seeco” Patterson playing percussion. Characterized by
spiritually and

socially conscious lyrics, the “Natty Dread”
album included a rousing blues-influenced celebration of reggae,
“Lively Up Yourself”, which Bob used to open many of his
concerts; the joy he experienced among friends amidst the struggles
of his Trench Town youth is

poignantly conveyed on “No Woman No
Cry”, while the essential title track played a significant role in
introducing Rastafarian culture and philosophies to the world. A
commercial as well as a critical success, “Natty Dread” peaked at
no. 44 on Billboard’s Black Albums chart and no. 92 on the Pop
Albums chart.

The
following year Bob embarked on a highly successful European tour in
support of “Natty Dread”, which included two nights at London’s
Lyceum Theater. The Lyceum performances were captured on Bob’s next
release for Island, “Bob Marley and the Wailers Live”,
which featured a melancholy version of “No Woman No Cry” that
reached the UK top 40.

Bob
Marley catapulted to international stardom in 1976 with the
release of “Rastaman Vibration”, his only album to reach the
Billboard Top 200, peaking at no. 8. With the inclusion of “Crazy
Baldhead”, which decries “brainwash education” and the stirring
title cut,

“Rastaman Vibration” presented a clearer understanding
of Rastafari teachings to the mainstream audience that was now
attentively listening to Bob. Also included was “War”, its lyrics
adapted from an impassioned speech to the United Nations General
Assembly in

1963, delivered by Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I
whom Rastafarians consider a living God. Thirty-five years after its
initial release “War” remains an unassailable anthem of equality,
its empowering spirit embraced by dispossessed people everywhere.

As
1976 drew to a close Bob Marley was now regarded as a global
reggae ambassador who had internationally popularized Rastafarian
beliefs. At home, that distinction fostered an immense sense of pride
among those who embraced Bob’s messages. But Bob’s

expanding
influence was also a point of contention for others in Jamaica, which
was brutally divided by political alliances. With the intention of
suppressing simmering tensions between Jamaica’s rival People’s
National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP), Bob

agreed to
a request by Jamaica’s Ministry of Culture to headline a (non
partisan) free concert, Smile Jamaica, to be held on December 5, 1976
in Kingston. Two days prior to the event, as Bob Marley and
The Wailers rehearsed at his Kingston home, an unsuccessful

assassination attempt was made on his life. Gunmen sprayed Bob’s
residence with bullets but miraculously, no one was killed; Bob
escaped with minor gunshot wounds, Rita underwent surgery to remove a
bullet that grazed her head but she was released from the

hospital
the next day. Bob’s manager Don Taylor was shot five times and
critically wounded; he was airlifted to Miami’s Cedars of Lebanon
Hospital for the removal of a bullet lodged against his spinal cord.

If
the ambush in the night at Bob Marley’s home was an attempt
to prevent him from performing at the Smile Jamaica concert or a
warning intended to silence the revolutionary

spirit within his
music, then it had failed miserably. Bob defiantly performed “War”
at the Smile Jamaica concert, which reportedly drew 80,000 people but
shortly thereafter he went into seclusion and few people knew of his
whereabouts.

Three
months after the Smile Jamaica concert, Bob flew to London where he
lived for the next year and a half; there he recorded the albums
“Exodus” (1977) and “Kaya” (1978). Exodus’ title track
provided a call for change, “the movement of Jah people”,
incorporating

spiritual and political concerns into its
groundbreaking amalgam of reggae, rock and soul-funk. A second
single, the sultry dance tune “Jamming” became a British top 10
hit. The

“Exodus” album remained on the UK charts for a
staggering 56 consecutive weeks, bringing a level of commercial
success to Bob Marley and the Wailers that had previously
eluded the band.

In
a more laid back vein, the “Kaya” album hit no. 4 on the British
charts, propelled by the popularity of the romantic singles “Satisfy
My Soul” and “Is This Love?” Kaya’s title track extols the
herb Marley used throughout his lifetime; the somber “Running
Away,” and the

haunting “Time Will Tell” are deep reflections
on the December 1976 assassination attempt. The release of “Kaya”
coincided with Bob Marley’s triumphant return to Jamaica for
a performance at the One Love Peace Concert, held on April 22, 1978
at Kingston’s National

Stadium. The event was another effort aimed
at curtailing the rampant violence stemming from the senseless
PNP-JLP rivalries; the event featured 16 prominent reggae acts and
was dubbed a “Third World Woodstock”. In the concert’s most
memorable scenario, Bob

Marleysummoned JLP leader Edward
Seaga and Prime Minister Michael Manley onstage. As the Wailers
pumped out the rhythm to “Jamming”, Bob urged the politicians to
shake hands; clasping his left hand over theirs, he raised their arms
aloft and chanted “Jah

Rastafari”. In recognition of his
courageous attempt to bridge Jamaica’s cavernous political divide,
Bob traveled to the United Nations in New York where he received the
organization’s Medal of Peace on June 6, 1978.